China to further open up financial sector: Central bank

BEIJING - China has made remarkable progress in opening up its financial sector and will continue to expand opening-up of the sector, the central bank said.

In expanding financial-sector opening-up, the country will adopt an approach of pre-establishment national treatment with a negative list, and pursue coordinated progress in financial opening-up, the reform in exchange rate formation mechanism and the process of advancing capital account convertibility, the People's Bank of China said in an article posted on its website.

The country will also pay close attention to financial risk control, and make sure that the country's financial oversight and regulatory capabilities are in line with the level of opening up, according to the statement.

As the country enters a new era of development, further opening up its financial sector is a path the country must follow to integrate into the global economy, the central bank said.

From a domestic perspective, as the economy is transitioning from high-speed growth to high-quality development, expanding financial opening-up will help build a diversified financial system, promote financial reform and better serve the real economy, it said.

It noted the country's opening up of its financial sector had drawn a positive market response.

As of the end of March, overseas investors bought a net of 1.77 trillion yuan ($260.3 billion) of bonds at the country's interbank bond market, up 31 percent from a year earlier, and held 5.4 trillion yuan of yuan-denominated financial assets, up 19 percent year-on-year, according to the central bank.